7. They Paved The Way For Comic Book Movies To Be Taken Seriously
Love em or loathe em, all of those comic book movies currently clogging up the cinema wouldnt be there if not for the success of the original film. Batman was one of the first big mega event movies, and in the summer of 1989 it couldnt be avoided. The iconic poster was everywhere, as were the toys, the comics, the numerous tie-ins and of course, the immortal Prince album. It had a huge opening weekend, driven by the marketing campaign, which has now become a key tactic for major studios. But the film was also one of the first movies, alongside Superman, to show that a comic book film could not only be a huge success, but it could also be really good too. And while this led to wave of crappy comic movies (Spawn, Steel etc) before they really broke through, Batman was a major turning point for how those kind of films were perceived. So in part, it can be thanked/blamed for their now global dominance.